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Verizon Wireless will add 250 full-time jobs statewide — at least 200 of them in central Ohio —
before the end of June as part of its effort to keep and attract customers.

The jobs cover a wide range of functions, Verizon officials said, and include customer service,
retail sales, business and government customer operations, and network and information
technology.

Verizon already employs 4,247 people across the state.

The moves are in response to “the new battleground” in wireless, said technology industry
analyst Jeff Kagan.

“We’re moving into a time that’s very focused on customer care,” Kagan said. “Seven years ago,
we were all using cellphones to make phone calls. But then Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android
turned it into a smartphone world.”

Now that smartphones have become commonplace, the challenge becomes keeping customers happy, he
said.

“That’s why Verizon is focused on improving customer relationships,” Kagan said. “They have
a quality network. Now they have to take care of their customers. If they don’t,
they’ll lose to AT&T and
Sprint and T-Mobile.”

The company will hold a job fair from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 17 at OCLC, 6565 Kilgour Place
in Dublin, as part of the hiring outreach, said Karissa Stanley, a Verizon recruiter for the Ohio
and Pennsylvania market.

The company also is trying to encourage early applications for the customer-service positions by
offering a $1,000 bonus to April hires, Stanley said.

Some of the new employees will focus on keeping Verizon the leader in customer relations, as
described in such surveys as J.D. Power.

“Our call center has a robust team of customer-service reps, but we know we need to keep up with
our growing business,” Stanley said.

Other new hires will go to retail stores, which are offering new technologies to continue
expanding Verizon’s mobile-phone business.

While those new employees will work with the wireless technology, they won’t be needed for any
further building of Verizon’s 4G towers and equipment, which essentially has been complete for two
years.

The new workers also will include 65 in the next few months as Verizon opens its new office
serving business and government customers, Stanley said.

Verizon is actively pursuing military veterans and working mothers for the jobs.

The company understands the value of a candidate’s military experience, said Heidi Schnell,
director of human resources. “We believe those sometimes-intangible skills add value to our company
and help a veteran to thrive in a team environment like ours,” she said.

As for the working mothers, the company offers benefits of particular interest to that group,
such as lactation rooms, on-site college courses and fitness centers staffed with personal
trainers, Verizon officials said.

Verizon also provides in-home backup care for children and elders, among other family-support
programs, Stanley said.